What's new
Fantasy Football - Footballguys Forums

Welcome to Our Forums. Once you've registered and logged in, you're primed to talk football, among other topics, with the sharpest and most experienced fantasy players on the internet.

How Can The Forum Be Better? Your Thoughts? (1 Viewer)

I never replaced the political forum with another political outlet. Honestly, I think it’s for the better for me personally.

I still try to be aware of economic news as it’s somewhat important for my job. However, I’m not very aware of the rest of it. I now have absolutely no interest in reading about this year’s election or whatever is currently getting either side of the aisle upset these days.

I guess I’d be disappointed if the forum were to return. (Although we know it won’t.)
 
I was in high school when the move from Old Yeller was made. I'm now pushing 40. It may have just been my age, but I remember in the past that the FFA was funnier, looser and a little bit more like dudes hanging out in a garage, just having fun. Now, it feels more cerebral, mature and boring.

But, I don't necessarily think that is the fault of Joe or the Powers that Be.

I think the board is different because the people are different, and that would happen no matter what. Father Time is undefeated, and a lot of the posters on here that have been around for years (decades) are older, more mature and different than they were 20 years ago. Is the FFA a bit more "buttoned up" than it used to be? Yeah, I'd say that is a fair assesment, but I also think that the posters themselves have probably moved in that direction as well.

I totally understand not having a political forum. I think in our current climate, that it would be way more trouble than it would be worth.

Embedded pictures -could- be a good addition, but I agree with a previous poster that brought up the point that being able to browse this forum without "fear" of what I might scroll past is nice. If there was a way to include pictures, but not have them "automatically" appear in posts, that might be something to try.
 
I was in high school when the move from Old Yeller was made. I'm now pushing 40. It may have just been my age, but I remember in the past that the FFA was funnier, looser and a little bit more like dudes hanging out in a garage, just having fun. Now, it feels more cerebral, mature and boring.

But, I don't necessarily think that is the fault of Joe or the Powers that Be.

.
I disagree, I've matured sure but I still love some great sophomoric humor. But after getting banned a few times for "jokes", as others have, you just don't bother trying to fit one in because they no longer fly on the board. This is not a complaint, just an observation and my personal opinion
 
Last edited:
Conservatives and liberals? Of course. The rest of us? Not so much.
I don't think communication and listening skills during times of disagreement are a partisan issue. You may be better skilled than others, but it's not because you don't consider yourself liberal or conservative.
 
Last edited:
Conservatives and liberals? Of course. The rest of us? Not so much.
I don't think communication and listening skills during times of disagreement are a partisan issue. You may be better skilled than others, but it's not because you don't consider yourself liberal or conservative.
You're right, but I think it's fair to say heels aren't dug in on a particular stance when it comes to someone that's legitimately somewhere in between...not those thay say they're independent, but are (un?)knowingly lying to themselves.
 
You're right, but I think it's fair to say heels aren't dug in on a particular stance when it comes to someone that's legitimately somewhere in between...not those thay say they're independent, but are (un?)knowingly lying to themselves.
With regard to issues, you're right. When arguing about facts and reality, which we often do nowadays, then not too many people are somewhere in between.
 
I was in high school when the move from Old Yeller was made. I'm now pushing 40. It may have just been my age, but I remember in the past that the FFA was funnier, looser and a little bit more like dudes hanging out in a garage, just having fun. Now, it feels more cerebral, mature and boring.

But, I don't necessarily think that is the fault of Joe or the Powers that Be.

.
I disagree, I've matured sure but I still love some great sophomoric humor. But after getting banned a few times for "jokes", as others have, you just don't bother trying to fit one in because they no longer fly on the board. This is not a complaint, just an observation and my personal opinion
That's fair. Honestly, I'm not active enough to really know the "behind the scenes" stuff about bans or timeouts due to jokes or other content. But, if there is a major crackdown on jokes by the mods, I will say it -is- noticeable, even to guys like me that are mostly lurkers. The board is less funny/silly/entertaining than it used to be.

But, if that is the way the mods want it, then that's their decision. My guess is that the FFA probably is not a big economic driver for the site as a whole, and as the "serious" fantasy football content on FBG continues to grow and gain traction, it probably doesn't make much sense for Joe to lose money because we want to make fart jokes in the FFA. I genuinely understand it from both sides.

They would absolutely lose a lot of posters, but I wonder if a paywalled version of the FFA or even a Politics Forum might make sense for both sides? If you could more freely post PG-13 or even "soft r" FFA stuff and/or argue about politics for $5 or $10 a month, maybe that might make more sense for the site? I don't know.
 
Why not a private opt in politics thread?
I don't want to speak for Joe and FBG, but my understanding is that these boards generate little to no revenue (at least direct revenue). So, even with a private opt-in thread or sub-forum, FBGs would still need to maintain it, monitor it, etc. which would mean FBGs expend more resources for little to no gain.

I say this as a guy who prefers there be a political forum and as a poster who appreciated the now closed political sub-forum. But, from a business perspective, I totally understand the decision to not have a politics forum on here.

ETA: I do like the idea of charging posters like $5/month to opt in to a PSF. I imagine a lot of us would be willing to pay and this may make the PSF worth it from a business perspective.
 
Last edited:
I was in high school when the move from Old Yeller was made. I'm now pushing 40. It may have just been my age, but I remember in the past that the FFA was funnier, looser and a little bit more like dudes hanging out in a garage, just having fun. Now, it feels more cerebral, mature and boring.

But, I don't necessarily think that is the fault of Joe or the Powers that Be.

.
I disagree, I've matured sure but I still love some great sophomoric humor. But after getting banned a few times for "jokes", as others have, you just don't bother trying to fit one in because they no longer fly on the board. This is not a complaint, just an observation and my personal opinion
That's fair. Honestly, I'm not active enough to really know the "behind the scenes" stuff about bans or timeouts due to jokes or other content. But, if there is a major crackdown on jokes by the mods, I will say it -is- noticeable, even to guys like me that are mostly lurkers. The board is less funny/silly/entertaining than it used to be.

But, if that is the way the mods want it, then that's their decision. My guess is that the FFA probably is not a big economic driver for the site as a whole, and as the "serious" fantasy football content on FBG continues to grow and gain traction, it probably doesn't make much sense for Joe to lose money because we want to make fart jokes in the FFA. I genuinely understand it from both sides.


They would absolutely lose a lot of posters, but I wonder if a paywalled version of the FFA or even a Politics Forum might make sense for both sides? If you could more freely post PG-13 or even "soft r" FFA stuff and/or argue about politics for $5 or $10 a month, maybe that might make more sense for the site? I don't know.
Agree and this has been brought up before in many threads. Just an example, teasing someone using a movie quote that "fit" into the theme. Looking at it from say the other side (idk if was reported or not) but maybe they don't know the movie and it could appear to be malicious but it is not. So the powers that be err on the side of caution.

Which is fine and its a moving target from day to day - so the "safe" thing is to probably not push it, again which is fine but I personally believe contributes to the "change" along with age for sure
 
I was in high school when the move from Old Yeller was made. I'm now pushing 40. It may have just been my age, but I remember in the past that the FFA was funnier, looser and a little bit more like dudes hanging out in a garage, just having fun. Now, it feels more cerebral, mature and boring.

But, I don't necessarily think that is the fault of Joe or the Powers that Be.
I'm now 40 and have been on this board for now nearly 20 years. I used to be fun and weird. I'm now the bold.

Are we sure the personality change you notice with this board (which I tend to agree with) isn't just a natural selection of our own developing and aging personalities?
 
Why not a private opt in politics thread?
I don't want to speak for Joe and FBG, but my understanding is that these boards generate little to no revenue (at least direct revenue). So, even with a private opt-in thread or sub-forum, FBGs would still need to maintain it, monitor it, etc. which would mean FBGs expend more resources for little to no gain.

I say this as a guy who prefers there be a political forum and as a poster who appreciated the now closed political sub-forum. But, from a business perspective, I totally understand the decision to not have a politics forum on here.

ETA: I do like the idea of charging posters like $5/month to opt in to a PSF. I imagine a lot of us would be willing to pay and this may make the PSF worth it from a business perspective.
Only way I would pay any money for the political forum would be if there was no moderation. The PSF forum was dominated by liberals and the moderators were decidedly liberal as well.
 
Only way I would pay any money for the political forum would be if there was no moderation. The PSF forum was dominated by liberals and the moderators were decidedly liberal as well.
thanks for making it totally clear why the political forum should never return take that to the bank brohan
Ugh I wish you were wrong but you're not.
Glad we can all agree. But to be fair, I am not sure to put aside partisan views when being a moderator. It would be very tough.
 
We're too hellbent on winning the debate and ignore the need to listen to others with an open mind.
Conservatives and liberals? Of course. The rest of us? Not so much.
I'm as liberal as they come, and I NEVER bothered with the political forum fwiw. I vote and donate money to candidates. Arguing with people is never positive for anyone imo. I don't watch the news or follow events in real time. I know why I think and vote the way I do. I am who I am. I guess my point is that less online stuff and more face to face real life conversations are where I am now. Yoga pants was super positive for my mental health fwiw. I hope everyone is having a good day.
 
Joe: "here's a sample of the personal threats I received as a result of the political forum which was also a massive timesink"

Dozens of boarders: "ok so here's my great idea for bringing it back"
People aren't listening to what they're being told, which kind of makes sense for those of us who were familiar with the PSF.
I'm not sure if I'm in this bucket, but this thread was started asking posters for suggestions so...
 
Why not a private opt in politics thread?
I don't want to speak for Joe and FBG, but my understanding is that these boards generate little to no revenue (at least direct revenue). So, even with a private opt-in thread or sub-forum, FBGs would still need to maintain it, monitor it, etc. which would mean FBGs expend more resources for little to no gain.

I say this as a guy who prefers there be a political forum and as a poster who appreciated the now closed political sub-forum. But, from a business perspective, I totally understand the decision to not have a politics forum on here.

ETA: I do like the idea of charging posters like $5/month to opt in to a PSF. I imagine a lot of us would be willing to pay and this may make the PSF worth it from a business perspective.
I got a feeling there are a number of us who buy an FBG subscription each fantasy season almost as a donation for supporting the forums, less for the fantasy content. If the forum wasn't here, I probably wouldn't be an FBG subscriber. I say that with 30 years of fantasy experience though. Setting lineups is not hard, and not a very technical endeavor. But I do love reading Waldman. And this is leaving daily fantasy aside. Maybe that's what brings people here now.
 
Why not a private opt in politics thread?
I don't want to speak for Joe and FBG, but my understanding is that these boards generate little to no revenue (at least direct revenue). So, even with a private opt-in thread or sub-forum, FBGs would still need to maintain it, monitor it, etc. which would mean FBGs expend more resources for little to no gain.

I say this as a guy who prefers there be a political forum and as a poster who appreciated the now closed political sub-forum. But, from a business perspective, I totally understand the decision to not have a politics forum on here.

ETA: I do like the idea of charging posters like $5/month to opt in to a PSF. I imagine a lot of us would be willing to pay and this may make the PSF worth it from a business perspective.
I got a feeling there are a number of us who buy an FBG subscription each fantasy season almost as a donation for supporting the forums, less for the fantasy content. If the forum wasn't here, I probably wouldn't be an FBG subscriber. I say that with 30 years of fantasy experience though. Setting lineups is not hard, and not a very technical endeavor. But I do love reading Waldman. And this is leaving daily fantasy aside. Maybe that's what brings people here now.
FF is all luck imo. I am one of the people you refer to.
 
I got a feeling there are a number of us who buy an FBG subscription each fantasy season almost as a donation for supporting the forums, less for the fantasy content. If the forum wasn't here, I probably wouldn't be an FBG subscriber
Much bigger number: The number of people who use the forums, and have never given FBG a dime.
 
why are the pro psf guys so insistent that they argue about politics here and only here there is reddit and a bunch of other places to try and convince others how smart you are why does it have to be here i dont get it take that to the bank brohans
Speaking only for myself, I've been on this board so long and I genuinely like the people here that I've just been accustomed to periodically and almost reflexively coming on this board when I have some downtime (e.g. in the bathroom or watching a kids show with my kids) or need a mental break from work. On this board I can get up to date NFL/FF news, baseball news, basketball news and talk, chess games and talk, poker invites (@Nipsey is there a game tonight? I might be able to play for once!), golf talk, book drafts, movie drafts, etc. It's basically a "hangout" for me to talk to people I like about all sorts of guy things. As such, it would just be nice to be able to choose to talk politics or get up to speed on some current events that I don't know to independently seek out nor really have the desire to spend the time to do so.

In short, I don't desire talking politics so much that I'll go elsewhere so it would be nice, from my perspective,* to have that option here and continue to be made aware of current events through a singular medium such as FBGs' board.


*To be clear, I'll absolutely defend Joe's decision to eliminate the PSF as it's his to make and I trust he's making the best decision for his business and personal satisfaction within his business.
 
why are the pro psf guys so insistent that they argue about politics here and only here there is reddit and a bunch of other places to try and convince others how smart you are why does it have to be here i dont get it take that to the bank brohans
Speaking only for myself, I've been on this board so long and I genuinely like the people here that I've just been accustomed to periodically and almost reflexively coming on this board when I have some downtime (e.g. in the bathroom or watching a kids show with my kids) or need a mental break from work. On this board I can get up to date NFL/FF news, baseball news, basketball news and talk, chess games and talk, poker invites (@Nipsey is there a game tonight? I might be able to play for once!), golf talk, book drafts, movie drafts, etc. It's basically a "hangout" for me to talk to people I like about all sorts of guy things. As such, it would just be nice to be able to choose to talk politics or get up to speed on some current events that I don't know to independently seek out nor really have the desire to spend the time to do so.

In short, I don't desire talking politics so much that I'll go elsewhere so it would be nice, from my perspective,* to have that option here and continue to be made aware of current events through a singular medium such as FBGs' board.


*To be clear, I'll absolutely defend Joe's decision to eliminate the PSF as it's his to make and I trust he's making the best decision for his business and personal satisfaction within his business.
i mean i like the people here too but i did not like how they behaved or myself in the politics forum so i say good riddance take that to the bank brohans
 
Joe, within the confines of your preferred content restrictions (sexual stuff, politics, R-rated words) I think you have the board running about as well as can be expected. There's a clear, identifiable division within the forums that posters generally seem to follow (so the board is user friendly). I think The Shark Pool has improved with its content recently and the FFA continues to provide enjoyable content.

My only opinion on improving the board (recognizing that you want this board to be PG) would be to open back up the political sub forum. But, I know you strongly disagree with this opinion so I won't belabor the point further.
This is my stance as well. Yes it could be a cess pool at times, but honestly I did get a lot of my news from there and a whole lot of good info from there as well.
 
We're older, less hip, less interesting. Maybe you could promote the FFA over on the Shark Pool more if you want to pull more people in, but honestly, we're in here ruminating over 40 year old music, 40 year old movies, and lots of other way out of date stuff along with talking about our mortgages, pet peeves, terms we hate, restaurants costing too much, disney vacations, colonoscopies, etc. etc. We're middle aged people talking about middle aged people stuff. You're not going to attract a younger crowd that way. That's just where we're at. Like, would we want to hang out on a forum where the majority of the people were 80+ doing Benny Goodman song drafts?

I think this is probably the best of all possible message boards at this point in time for our demographic. I do miss some of the posters who don't frequent this place anymore (watch the HItler gets banned from footballguys clip on youtube some time just to get a reminder of how many people aren't here anymore), but I also doubt they're still engaged in the hijinks they'd report back on either, and I don't think looser moderation or allowing yoga pants threads are going to bring that vibe back.

Losing the political forum was the best thing that happened to this board, and me personally. The majority of politics discussions are a complete waste of time in the worst way. Sure I'd learn something new occasionally, but that wasn't anywhere near worth the aggravation and stress.
 
Last edited:
Losing the political forum was the best thing that happened to this board, and me personally. The majority of politics discussions are a complete waste of time in the worst way. Sure I'd learn something new occasionally, but that wasn't anywhere near worth the aggravation and stress.
I hate doing this because in my very first post in this thread I indicated I didn't want to belabor the point about the PSF as Joe has been abundantly clear on it, and now we're somewhat hijacking his thread, but I generally don't understand this sentiment. Random internet posters caused you "aggravation" and "stress"? You really couldn't just ignore posts you didn't deem valuable? That seems more like a "you problem" than a overall board problem. Maybe it's because I'm personally politically pretty centrist and am literally trained to identify multiple sides of an issue, but I can't recall a single time that a poster aggravated me or stressed me out. Obviously things got heated in for some, but I want to stress that for at least me (and I assume many others) the PSF was not a "complete waste of time" and its shut down hasn't helped us in any way with our time on this board. And, further, I do think some people need to learn when to let things go and simply ignore a topic or sub-forum if they cannot handle it.

I think my only slight annoyance in the PSF was that there'd be some usual suspects that would just clutter an otherwise good/newsworthy thread with unproductive back and forths, but that's about it. Personally, I somewhat embraced and appreciated the more extreme viewpoints in the thread because I found those posters honest and it helped me to better understand and anticipate the viewpoints of my real life friends and acquaintances that share those same viewpoints. In other words, I received a preview of what to expect my right-wing father-in-law to talk about over our next glass of whisky or my very liberal colleague to bring up at our next networking event - which honestly was helpful for me so I could be better prepared to respond.
 
Forums are an "old man's" venue.

We're older, less hip, less interesting. Maybe you could promote the FFA over on the Shark Pool more if you want to pull more people in, but honestly, we're in here ruminating over 40 year old music, 40 year old movies, and lots of other way out of date stuff in here these days along with talking about our mortgages, pet peeves, terms we hate, restaurants costing too much, disney vacations, colonoscopies, etc. etc. We're middle aged people talking about middle aged people stuff. You're not going to attract a younger crowd that way. That's just where we're at. Like, would we want to hang out on a forum where the majority of the people were 80+ doing Benny Goodman song drafts?

👆
 
The obsession with NEEDING TO BE ABLE TO discuss politics in every setting is mind bottling to me.

take a break, you’ll enjoy it

I actually mostly discuss politics with like-minded individuals, so seeing some of the extreme viewpoints(and sometimes backup source links) in the political forum was interesting to me.

But there are other mechanisms to get that info(we all know the media outlets), just none that I'm aware of that allow for personal interaction.

ETA: still supportive of Joe's decision to axe the forum
 
Losing the political forum was the best thing that happened to this board, and me personally. The majority of politics discussions are a complete waste of time in the worst way. Sure I'd learn something new occasionally, but that wasn't anywhere near worth the aggravation and stress.
I hate doing this because in my very first post in this thread I indicated I didn't want to belabor the point about the PSF as Joe has been abundantly clear on it, and now we're somewhat hijacking his thread, but I generally don't understand this sentiment. Random internet posters caused you "aggravation" and "stress"? You really couldn't just ignore posts you didn't deem valuable? That seems more like a "you problem" than a overall board problem. Maybe it's because I'm personally politically pretty centrist and am literally trained to identify multiple sides of an issue, but I can't recall a single time that a poster aggravated me or stressed me out. Obviously things got heated in for some, but I want to stress that for at least me (and I assume many others) the PSF was not a "complete waste of time" and its shut down hasn't helped us in any way with our time on this board. And, further, I do think some people need to learn when to let things go and simply ignore a topic or sub-forum if they cannot handle it.

I think my only slight annoyance in the PSF was that there'd be some usual suspects that would just clutter an otherwise good/newsworthy thread with unproductive back and forths, but that's about it. Personally, I somewhat embraced and appreciated the more extreme viewpoints in the thread because I found those posters honest and it helped me to better understand and anticipate the viewpoints of my real life friends and acquaintances that share those same viewpoints. In other words, I received a preview of what to expect my right-wing father-in-law to talk about over our next glass of whisky or my very liberal colleague to bring up at our next networking event - which honestly was helpful for me so I could be better prepared to respond.
When you end up scrolling through 95% of the posts, it's a waste of time. And yeah, reading the invective and stupidity people would spew incessantly (regardless of their political affiliation), the childish back and forth, just to find the very few worthwhile posts in a stream of trash - all of it was aggravating, stressful, and pointless. I put people on ignore, but then you're missing their posts elsewhere, which sucks. I did end up mostly bailing on the PSF before it got axed, I'd check in from time to time to see if anything interesting was going on, but it was mostly the same old thing. I don't know why FBGs carried it as long as it did.
 
Forums are an "old man's" venue.

We're older, less hip, less interesting. Maybe you could promote the FFA over on the Shark Pool more if you want to pull more people in, but honestly, we're in here ruminating over 40 year old music, 40 year old movies, and lots of other way out of date stuff in here these days along with talking about our mortgages, pet peeves, terms we hate, restaurants costing too much, disney vacations, colonoscopies, etc. etc. We're middle aged people talking about middle aged people stuff. You're not going to attract a younger crowd that way. That's just where we're at. Like, would we want to hang out on a forum where the majority of the people were 80+ doing Benny Goodman song drafts?

👆
:hifive:
 
I get why some want the political forum back given what is on the horizon this year, but I think it's telling that some (not all) of the biggest advocates for bringing it back or it never going away in the first place were the main reasons why it was such a cesspool for the last few years of its existence. They have no one to blame but themselves for it being nothing but a distant memory.
 
We're older, less hip, less interesting. Maybe you could promote the FFA over on the Shark Pool more if you want to pull more people in, but honestly, we're in here ruminating over 40 year old music
I was nodding along when I thought of Tim’s 1974 thread, then checked math and realized being generous with the 40 years.
 
We're older, less hip, less interesting. Maybe you could promote the FFA over on the Shark Pool more if you want to pull more people in, but honestly, we're in here ruminating over 40 year old music
I was nodding along when I thought of Tim’s 1974 thread, then checked math and realized being generous with the 40 years.
Definitely didn't dip as far back as I could have.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Top